The Organic Farmers Season
Fuck The Bass Player, 2020
9/10
Listen to The Organic Farmers Season
The French duo of Laurent Lacrouts and Mathieu Jourdain, i.e. The Inspector Cluzo, have done a lot of brilliant things in their career so far, and now they’re adding the unplugged, live The Organic Farmers Season to their impressive catalog. Recorded in early 2020, the real life farmers pull from their most recent album and deeper, where violin and cello help complement the blues, rock, soul and jazz meshing that the band have built their career on.
“A Man Outstanding In His Fields” starts the listen with warm guitar as Lacrouts alternates between talking and singing- and hitting some real high notes- in the inimitable fusion rock approach, and “The Sand Preacher” follows with a darker quality as quivering singing aligns with moody strings amid a cathartic atmosphere of gorgeous tension.
The sound quality here is top notch, so much so that other than the audience clapping, you wouldn’t realize it’s live, and this allows the falsetto pipes and acoustic guitar of “The Run” to shine bright, while “The Globalisation Blues” gets playful with no lack of bluesy interplay between the keys, guitar and percussion. “We The People Of The Soil”, a standout track, then recruits plenty of soul as an orchestral backdrop illuminates the cautious beauty present.
Near the end, “No Deal At The Crossroads” benefits from both gruff and sublime singing in its atypical folk rock nature, and “Little Girl & The Whistlin’ Train” finishes out the set with violin and drums working together with much emotion as gentle ebbs of acoustic guitar and calm vocals fill the spaces between the ebullient, soaring landscape.
It’s truly amazing how much power and spirit is possible from so little in this intimate and yet still very energetic performance. For the first time listener like myself, this seems like an ideal starting point, and it certainly will lend itself to seeking out more of The Inspector Cluzo’s work.
Travels well with: Alastair Greene- The New World Blues; Albert Castiglia- Wild And Free